The moving and storage industry often serves consumers who need to store large amounts of material for varying lengths of time. This situation arises when families are changing jobs and moving to different cities, remodeling their current home, and more. Customers who need off-site storage are often in the throes of a stressful situation made even more so by the inconvenience, expense and inefficiency of traditional moving and storage options.
Traditionally, moving and storage options consist of a warehouse divided into multiple units which can be rented for expensive fees. To use traditional storage units, the customer must either pay someone to load the material requiring storage or do so themselves and bring it to the storage facility. The material is then unloaded and packed away in the storage unit. When storage is no longer needed, the material must be removed from the storage facility, reloaded into a truck, transported back to the desired location and finally unloaded yet again. The material to be stored is handled a total of four times, resulting in great inefficiency and rising costs.
Another inconvenience with traditional mini-storage and moving options is the location of the storage units. Traditional moving and storage units are often located in out of the way neighborhoods, as space for storage units is rarely found in downtown areas. Space for long-term storage is hard to find in any situation, but especially in large metropolitan areas where even space for parking is at a premium. In the rare instance storage space is conveniently located, it is often exorbitantly expensive.
A search of relevant prior art shows several patents relate to storage containers. U.S. patent application No. 2001/0038009 A1 to Payne describes a transport and storage system comprising a cargo container with multiple compartments containing a variety of storage modules. These storage modules can be cabinets, boxes, chests, racks, closets or other containers. In addition, the cargo container can be used without the storage modules. U.S. patent application No. 2002/0180179 A1 to Krauss describes a transportable storage container a well as a specialized transportation assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,312 to Harris describes a mobile storage box designed for cleaning up pollutants, such as oil spills, from bodies of water. U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,568 to Stensrud describes a steerably-wheeled, transportable cargo container comprising a covered flatbed, accessed by removing the container's cover. U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,122 to Takeuchi describes a large transportable storage container with a boxlike cover. U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,683 to Rumell describes a transport vehicle with a portable cargo container and a transport vehicle with a wheel bed and a removable and reusable freight hauling and storing container. U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,131 to Higgins describes a convertible highway and rail freight vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,234 to Takano describes a transportable storage closet with an insulated container.
However, the prior art does not provide the unique alternative to traditional mini-storage and moving options offered by the present invention wherein the storage space is delivered directly to the consumer. It is an object of this invention to provide a mobile storage container that can be transported directly to the consumer for loading, and then stored anywhere that has the required machinery. When storage is no longer needed, the entire storage container is transported directly to the customer for unloading. This reduces the work load by half because the stored material is only handled twice instead of the typical four times using traditional storage options. It is an object of this invention to provide a mobile storage container that is readily convertible from an immobile storing container to a mobile wheeled hauling container for easy transfer or placement. It is a further object of this invention to provide a mobile storage container that can be stored in any space large enough for the container to stand. Further, it is an object of this invention to provide a secure, weatherproof storage container that increases efficiency and reduces costs.